THE CABLE PIPELINE

Tupelo Public School District - Student/Teacher Laptops

Affordability of service

Affordability of hardware

Insufficient digital and technical literacy levels

Unawareness of personal relevance and utility of broadband technology and online content

Inability to use existing technology and applications due to physical or mental disabilities

According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project the top reason the internet was not adopted by non-users was (no interest in getting online), representing 33% of those surveyed. The second most stated reason indicated a (lack of access to the internet), representing 13% of the group.

The Broadband Stimulus Plan will go a long way in helping both the public and private sectors build out the infrastructure to help accommodate the plan, of at least, giving the access to both metropolitan and rural areas. However, what seems to be just as important on an adoption level is the relevance of education in the literacy of (relevance, utility, digital, and technical skills) in using this technology. This should be the next core strategy of the FCC.

Why not have the FCC, and yes, the private sector like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Verizon get seriously involved in the education of our student population in learning the technology and its advantages for future adoption across a broad spectrum of users? I’m not asking for an FCC mandate to the private sector, but a partnership between both public and private entities to ensure a lasting model of proficiency which will help these sectors in the long-term, while positioning the U.S for a strong competitive edge in the global economy.

 An interesting point to this end is the announcement of our local school district’s (adoption plan) within the classroom. The plan is a partnership with Tupelo Public School District and Apple, see (Apple Laptop Computers for TPSD 6-12 Graders and all Teachers) to provide every student and teacher in grades 6-12 access to an Apple laptop computer at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. Instead of providing textbooks and photocopies to all students, the District will provide text books loaded on to computers and photocopy PDF’s via e-mail for instruction.  

We all understand the importance of the role education plays in the adoption of any significant initiative rather it be technology, business, economics, math, history, language, writing, reading, i.e..in teaching these fundamental skills to be successful in life, creating a true contributor to society, and not just a drain on societal resources. Sufficed to say, my vote is to adopt a broadband technology literacy program from a public and private association with schools to help fund these initiatives for the future workers in our economic model. The future of the U.S economy depends on it.

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While it is tempting for Cable Executives to listen and be led by Wall Street to take advantage of actions that may have a short-term positive effect on shareholder value; the true course of action has to sit with the CEO’s ability to steer the organization in long-term strategy, and ignore the blustering of short-sited manipulators out for a “grab and run”.

 By that I mean the so called Wall Street analysts, which can manipulate stocks in the short-term, while eyeing to take advantage of any scenario that could turn a profit. This type of manipulating is nothing new. Take for instance the history of insider trading that has mauled Wall Street for the last two decades, including Levine, Siegel, Boesky and Milken: The Precognition Rat Pack ; R. Foster Winans: The Corruptible Columnist; and Martha Stewart: The Homemaking Hoaxer; not to mention the last attack which almost drove our economy over the precipice with the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG and the rest didn’t happen overnight.

These debacles have all been orchestrated as the result of market deregulation, in essence, giving a free hand to those who wish to manipulate markets and company stocks while taking advantage to make themselves rich. What; isn’t this capitalism at its best; not hardly? So, while I have written that the FCC should tread lightly in considering rules that would harness the ISP networks (see Private Investment: FCC Should Tread Carefully On Broadband Rules ); Cable Executives should think about the implications of cordoning off their pipelines in an effort to capture the large and growing market of ISP users.

The current climate of (a call for more regulation of the internet) is not just rhetoric; it is the culmination of scary abuses by Wall Street and companies wanting to take advantage of their large networks to become another (Standard Oil) or (AT&T) of old. Since the industry has enjoyed a largely deregulated market, which I might add they lobbied heavily to obtain; why invite more scrutiny from regulators due to ill thought out business plans? Do not be fooled into believing that Congress will not pass legislation to curb abuses; it has happened in the past and will certainly come around again, if the industry invites it.

There is difference in servicing a large market to take advantage of the size and scope of those services, and offering the innovation to what customers want out of those services. This is the key to long-term success; not controlling the pipeline.

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